The journey to mount the
Paul Simon musical "The Capeman" finally ended Thursday with a rousing opening-night performance at Broadway's Marquis Theater and a salsa-flavored bash at the Marriott Marquis Hotel ballroom.
The cast did several curtain calls for an all-star crowd that featured more than the usual allotment of film and TV stars. On hand were
Julia Roberts, "NYPD Blue" star
Jimmy Smits, "Law & Order" star
Jerry Orbach, director
Abel Ferrara, "Saturday Night Live" star
Molly Shannon, "NewsRadio" producer
Paul Simms, director
Penny Marshall, actor
Mark Wahlberg and manager
Bernie Brillstein.
Perhaps because of the tribulations involved in fixing the show during the preview process, the cast, led by stars
Marc Anthony and
Ednita Nazario, wept at the curtain calls. An awkward moment came when a flurry of TV cameras ushered to the orchestra pit to film those curtain calls instead turned their cameras on audience member Roberts. Though the musical received mostly negative reviews, which lauded the music and the setting but critiqued the narrative and story, the cast and producers
Dan Klores, Brad Grey, Edgar Dobie and
James Nederlander all seemed to breathe sighs of relief at the bash.
Contact the Variety newsroom at
news@variety.com